Fence



L. BARNES.

(No Model.)

FENCE.

Patented Dec. 3, 1889 N4 PETERS PhMwLnnngraph-r, Wuhlnglnn [1Q UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

LEIVIS BARNES, OF BELVIDERE, NEIV JERSEY, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO VILLIAM NICHOLS, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

FENCE.

I SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 416,353, dated December 3, 1889.

Application filed May 28, 1889. {Serial No. 312,356. (No model.)

To aZZ whom, it 11mg concern.-

Be it known that I, LEWIS BARNES, a citizen of the United States, residing at Belvidere, county of \Varren, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fences, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to fences of the kind shown in my patent, No. 324,517, dated Angust 18, 1885; and it consists in a fence constructed substantially as hereinafter pointed out.

Figure 1 is a side view of a fence containing my present invention. Fig. 2 is a longi- I 5 tudinal horizontal section. Fig. 3 is a faceview of a portion of one of the posts. Fig. 4

is a similar view showing the rails and their confining-key in section. Fig. 5 is a sectional view showing a form of spring-wedge for the 2 o stretcher-post.

In the drawings, A represents the fenceposts, and B the rails, supported in seats therein. The posts and rails are of the same general construction as those illustrated in my aforesaid patent. The seats in the posts for the rails consist of openings a, having the enlarged upper portions and the contracted lower portions, into which the rails are slid,

as shown in the said patent. In order to re- 0 tain the rails in their seats in the contracted portions of the openings at, I form the openings of the shape shown in Fig. 3, with one or more laterally-extending slots 1 adjacent to the contracted portion of the opening a. 3 5 Into the seats formed by these slots 1 are inserted keys in the form of blocks, plates, or wedges 2, which, as shown in Fig. 4, lie directly above the ends of the rails and prevent their being raised out of their seats 40 without first removing such keys. The slots need not be deep or expanded, since a thin metallic key will .be sufficient to hold the rails securely in place, and by turning up its ends slightly it will not be liable to become detached and lost.

In order to provide a means for maintaining the requisite tension upon the fence, I employ the following devices:

3 is a supplemental or what I prefer to term a stretcher post. It is a bar or post like the posts A, except that since it is not intended to be inserted into the ground it is not so long and need not be tapering at its lower end. These supplemental stretcherposts are placed against the side of the stationary posts A, so that the openings at through the two shall register, when the rails B are put in place through the two, as though they were but a single post. After the fence is put up, when it is desired to stretch the same, wedge-blocks 4 are driven between the posts A and 3, forcing them apart and drawing the fence rails or bars A, so as to take up any slack there may be in the fence. In practice I find that it is sufficient to place one of these stretcher-posts every ten or twenty rods along the line of the fence. Besides being an effective means of keeping "a fence of the kind described in a firm taut condition, this device is found to be of great utility in localities subject to great extremes of temperature, where the contraction of me tallic rails during the cold season severelystrains and injures the fence. In such localities, as the cold weather approaches, the wedges or blocks 4 are removed, slackening the fence, so that the contraction of the rails may take place without injuriously straining it.

Instead of employing rigid blocks or wedges 8o 4, which must be removed to permit contraction of the fence, spring-wedges 5, of rubber or of spring metal, may be used, as shown in Fig. 5. In such case the keys may be allowed to remain in place throughout the whole year. This feature of my invention is inexpensive, and may be applied to a fence of the character shown in my aforesaid patent after it has been set up.

What I claim is 1. In a fence, the combination, with the fence-posts provided with openings and the rails seated in the said openings, of the supplemental stretcher posts or bars provided with openings for the rails, which register 5 with the openings in the fence-posts, and

blocks inserted between the said fenccposts In testimony whereof I have signed my name 10 and supplemental stretcher posts or bars, subto this specification in the presence of two sub stantially as set forth. scribing Witnesses.

2. In a fence the combination with the 1 T 1 5 fence-posts and the rails, of the silpplelnen- LhWIS BARK tal stretcher posts or bars and the spring- Vitnesses: wedges inserted between the fence-posts and NICHOLAS HARRIS,

the stretcher posts or bars, substantially as JOHN H. HOCH. set forth. 

